Buffering nature in Chitwan

More than 300,000 tourists visited Chitwan National Park (CNP) in the past year, more than half of them from Nepal. In total, they injected Rs307 million in revenue to the park which also had income from timber sales and regulated sand mining and fines. 

The park’s buffer zone spreads across 729km and includes 12 rural municipalities in Chitwan, Parsa, Nawalparasi, and Makwanpur districts. There are 21 Buffer Zone User Committees, and 73 community forest committees. 

Nepal’s population of tigers has tripled, and most of the wild cats roam inside the Chitwan National Park. The prey density is still adequate, but tigers, rhinos and wild elephants often venture into the buffer zone and nearby settlements. 

“Despite high prey density within the national park, there are still wildlife attacks,” admits Dil Bahadur Purja Pun of CNP. Last year alone, there were 10 fatalities, mostly from tiger attacks. 

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Although this number is high, it is also an indication of Nepal’s conservation success story.  Efforts are now underway among CNP rangers and staff, conservationists, as well as organisations like the WWF’s crossborder Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) program to minimise human casualties. 

Madi municipality is inside the buffer zone surrounded by Chitwan National Park to the east, west, and north, and India’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve to the south. Communities here have close and frequent encounters with wildlife. Wounded tigers which cannot hunt usual prey venture out to attack livestock, wild elephants trample through farms that are on their traditional migratory paths, and leopards stalk domestic animals.

The village of Pandav Nagar is one of the most impoverished and there is no community forest here. Outmigration is rife, and most youth have moved to Bharatpur and beyond. The young and elderly who are left behind are more vulnerable to predators. 

Conservation organisations have erected a kilometre-long cement wall with mesh wire that keeps elephants out, but there are still gaps through which the animals can get through. The TAL program facilitates an awareness campaign called Behaviour Change Communication for Conservation. 

One of the trainees is Poonam Pandey, a teacher from Panch Pandav village, who now instructs children in her community about how to avoid contact with wildlife and help conservation efforts. 

“In the past, people here used to say that the wild animals have given them nothing but conflict and grief, but there has now been a change in attitude,” says Pandey. “Now, they are actively engaged in conservation.”

Some of the older residents who have had close shaves with wildlife are still not convinced that co-existing with wildlife is possible. 

In Madi’s  Chainpur, a group of women supported by conservation institutions plant turmeric as cash crops, which wild elephants do not like to eat. Other buffer zone communities grow other cash crops like lemon, which are less in risk of being destroyed by wildlife. 

“In the past, we used to have to go into the forest for fodder and firewood,” says one participant of the program. “With these cash crops, we now generate our own income and the elephants leave us alone.” 

Conservation groups have also helped local communities with predator-proof pens to protect their goats. In June this year, Chainpur village was declared a PPP model village. 

Over in Meghauli near Bharatpur, there are five community forests in the buffer zone where rhinos, tigers, elephants, and deer roam in abundance. Wetlands have been constructed so the wildlife have watering holes and ample grazing land. 

With an abundance of prey, there is less likelihood of tigers and leopards venturing out into residential areas. The prey attract tigers which means tourists on safari trips can enjoy sightings. The eco-tourism possibility of Rapti Hariyali Community Forest has gone up just from the increased chances of observing tigers and rhinos in the wild. 

“Although Sauraha and Kasara are the popular entry points for tourism, we want to spread the visitors out to Meghauli as well,” says Yum Bahadur Thapa of Rapti Hariyali Community Forest. “It is proof that conservation, income generation, and tourism can go hand in hand.”

The Nirmal Thori Buffer Zone User Committee is the park’s only buffer zone in Parsa district. It lies on the tri-junction of Chitwan and Parsa National Parks and India’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve. Conservation officers here coordinate closely with the Indian reserve to minimise human-wildlife contact.

“Our goal here is to minimise wildlife contact and generate income for the communities through ecotourism,” says Bal Kumar Basnet, chair of the Nirmal Thori Buffer Zone User Committee. “That includes jungle safaris, and homestays, and other tourism promoting activities.”

However local government must ensure that visitor numbers does not exceed the carrying capacity. Nepal’s conservation success could be in jeopardy if there is a rush to excessively monetise nature.

The federal government has amended the National Park and Wildlife Conservation Act to allow private sector investment in Nepal’s protected areas. In theory, this is to ensure that local communities benefit more from conservation. 

But this could kill the goose that lays golden eggs. The feeling here is that while resorts and homestays can be opened in the buffer zones, they should never be allowed inside the national park.

One conservation official told us: “Allowing private companies to build inside protected areas will spell disaster.”